Battleship Review

Copyright Universal

Trailer
PG-13
Runtime: 131 Minutes
Cast Analysis:
(Power Players/Rising Stars)
Taylor Kitsch (John Carter, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Covenant, Snakes on a Plane)
Alexander Skarsgard (Straw Dogs, True Blood (TV)
Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, Star Wars Episode I, Kingdom of Heaven, Batman Begins, Taken, Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans, The A-Team)


                                   
(Possible Potential)
Brooklyn Decker (Just Go With It, What To Expect When You're Expecting)
Rihanna
Jerry Ferrara (Entourage)

Synopsis:
Battleship is loosely based off of Milton Bradley's/Hasbro's 1967 Military Strategy board game of the same title. Battleship begins with an international Navy war game exercise due to commence off the coast of Hawaii. Shortly after setting sail, Aliens crash land in the pacific ocean and begin to manifest themselves. Hooper (Kitsch) soon finds himself cut off from the rest of the fleet and fighting for not only his and his crew's survival but also the survival of mankind.    

Opinion:
It seems like up until recently, the exec's over at Paramount were the primary source of hope for elevating Comic/Game/Animated Series products to the big screen, (G.I. Joe, Transformers, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, etc). There's no mistaken that these franchises have generally become money makers and helped fund future endeavors, most recently The Avengers which made $200.3 million opening weekend (May 4, 2012) across 4,300 Theaters Nationwide, has already reclaimed majority of its production cost of $220 million (estimated). Now it seems that Universal Pictures has begun to venture out into the unknown, although it will be a few days until preliminary figures are available, I attended a 12:01a.m. premiere quite honestly skeptical about the potential this movie could deliver, my preliminary assessment was based primarily on a few cast members (Neeson and Kitsch) and their performance history. Neeson has had quite a brilliant career, he has worked with some of Hollywoods elite (Spielberg and Lucas) and played some of History's and Pop Cultures most memorable people: Oskar Schindler, Aslan, Zeus, Ra's Al Ghul, Qui-Gon Jinn). Kitsch even though just recently began his career, he has already shown great promise in his roles (John Carter and Gambit). As I assessed the ticket sales and attendance (which go hand in hand) for that theatre, I was disappointed, their were roughly 10 people in attendance. In spite of this films uncertain beginning and the introduction of aliens to the plot of a traditional military strategy board game, I believe this film has the potential to be a genuinely entertaining action adventure, I recommend seeing it if for nothing else, the action.  

Grade: B-              

Both studios are currently celebrating 100 Years! Congratulations!

Copyright Sony

Trailer
PG-13
Runtime: 106 Minutes
Cast Analysis:
Will Smith (Independence Day, Bad Boys, I Am Legend)
Tommy Lee Jones (Rules of Engagement, Volcano, Under Siege)
Josh Brolin (The Goonies, Jonah Hex)
Jemaine Clement (Despicable Me, Rio)
Emma Thompson (Harry Potter, Brave)
Michael Stuhlbarg (Boardwalk Empire)






Synopsis:
Agent J (Smith) must travel back in time to the 1960's to stop Boris (Clement) from altering time and save Agent K (Jones, Brolin) from not existing in the present and prevent an alien invasion.


Opinion:
Without giving any secrets away, this Men in Black answers a lot of unanswered questions that were left open in the first two films. It is very true that if you close your eyes and listen to Brolin that he is a very passable Jones. Highly recommend if you have any interest in the franchise.


Grade: B